Graves of missing World War One soldiers identified in Belgium
More than 100 years after their deaths, the graves of two soldiers of the QRWS who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War 1 have finally been identified.
Rev. Adele Rees CF, Chaplain to 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, blesses the headstone of Sjt Stevens.
A joint rededication service, organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also known as the ‘MOD War Detectives’, was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Hooge Crater Cemetery near Ypres for both men on Tuesday 9 June 2026.
John Edgar Springate, from Lambeth, and Ernest Albert Stevens, from West Wycombe, Bucks, both joined the Army sometime after the start of 1916. Though neither man’s record has survived to give us specific details of their service, by the late summer of 1918 both were serving with 11 Bn QRWS Regiment in Belgium.
On the evening of 1 October 1918, the battalion launched an attack towards the Wervicq – Menin railway and, under very heavy machine gun fire, suffered significant casualties. Overnight, they suffered further losses whilst moving to an assembly point. During those two days the battalion lost 36 men, 15 of whom remained missing following the war.
The names of the missing were listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial. John Edgar Springate and Ernest Albert Stevens were two of these men.
After the war, the remains of an unknown sergeant of the QRWS Regiment were recovered south-west of Gheluwe and north-east of Wervicq. In a separate recovery the remains of an unknown lance corporal of the QRWS Regiment were also recovered nearby.
Since both could only be partially identified by rank and regiment, they were buried in graves marked simply ‘Known to God’. Now, following extensive archival research we know that the unknown Serjeant was Ernest Albert Stevens, and the unknown Lance Corporal was John Edgar Springate.
JCCC Caseworker, Alexia Clark, said:
I am grateful to the researcher who originally submitted evidence suggesting the location of LCpl Springate and Sjt Stevens’ graves. In rededicating their graves today, we have reunited their mortal remains with their names, ensuring that their sacrifice will not be forgotten.
The headstones over both graves were replaced by CWGC who will care for them in perpetuity.
Rev. Adele Rees CF, Chaplain to 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, blesses the headstone of LCpl Springate.
Sean Phillips, Commemorations Support Coordinator at the CWGC said:
It is with great reverence that, after more than a century, we can now mark the graves of Lance Corporal Springate and Serjeant Stevens with headstones that identify their names and bear the details of their service. The memory of these soldiers is now etched in stone, honouring their sacrifices at their final place of rest in Hooge Crater Cemetery.
Colonel Mark Nooney, of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, lays a wreath at the newly engraved headstone of Sjt Stevens.